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03 ноември 2009

Students and instructors at Vienna's Akademie der bildenden Künste have gone on strike to protest a move by the Austrian ministry of education to introduce the Anglo-American degree system of bachelors' and masters' degrees. As Der Standard reports, the protest slogans––"Malen nach Zahlen" (Painting After Paying) and "Education Is Not for Sale"––take aim at the rumor that the ministry will cut off the academy's already tight funding if the new degrees are not introduced.

Decided in 1999 at the Bologna congress, the new degree system is being introduced across the European Union in order to standardize postsecondary education while taking the Anglo-American system as its model. The Vienna academy wants to stick with diploma studies and has come up with a development plan. The strike is expected to continue until rector Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen meets with the ministry later this week.

Critics argue that the shift toward the Anglo-American system will make studies more money-oriented while favoring institutional structures over individual artistic development. Another factor in the strike is mistrust between the university and its rector, who seems to sympathize with both the European framework and the concerns of the students. "One must see how one can mediate between both sides," Schmidt-Wulffen told the Standard.

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